Conductor Bernard Labadie (photograph by Dario Acosta, courtesy of SFS)
As most readers probably know by now, Ton Koopman was unable to conduct this week’s series of subscription concerts given by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in Davies Symphony Hall due to visa difficulties. He was replaced by Bernard Labadie, who made his SFS debut in 2005; and, unless I am mistaken, has not performed here since April of 2013, when he presented a program of sacred music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and George Frideric Handel.
Koopman had prepared a secular program for this week, coupling Mozart this time with Joseph Haydn. Labadie kept the Mozart selections scheduled for the first half of the program, the K. 239 serenade in D major, known as the “Serenata notturna,” and the K. 425 (“Linz”) symphony in D major. For the Haydn half of the program, Labadie replaced Koopman’s selection (Hoboken I/80 in D minor) with Hoboken I/103 in E-flat major, which turned out to be a more entertaining offering.
Indeed, Labadie even took the time to provide some introductory remarks about the Haydn selection. The “nickname” for this symphony is “Drumroll;” and, in her Inside Music Talk, Alexandra Amati played a recording of the timpani drumroll that begins the first movement and recurs near the end of that same movement. Labadie told a slightly different story. Apparently, recent research has made the case that the notation of a whole note with a trill sign was to be interpreted as an opportunity for a cadenza. After Labadie had gone on for a while to make this case, Assistant Principal Timpani Bryce Leafman interrupted with a drumroll, which then unfolded into a virtuoso cadenza; and the symphony then got under way. A similar cadenza was performed at the end of the first movement.
The fact is that Labadie found just the right sweet spot between affability and technical rigor to make last night one of the most absorbing accounts of both Haydn and Mozart that I have experienced in several years. I suspect the impact had much to do with a sense of personality that included the full ensemble, rather than just the conductor. Mind you, after Leafman had his say for the second time, Assistant Concertmaster Wyatt Underhill had his own solo opportunity during the double-variation second movement (Andante più tosto allegretto). (Both themes were apparently based on Croatian folk songs.) Taken as a whole, this was far from a business-as-usual account of a Haydn symphony (not that any Haydn symphony deserves a business-as-usual approach!), leaving me to wonder why we had to wait almost a decade for a return visit by Labadie.
There was also no shortage of upbeat rhetoric in Labadie’s approach to the Mozart half of the program. The Wikipedia page for K. 239 states that it was scored for “Two small orchestras.” This was not quite the case last night. Rather, the music was performed by one small ensemble coupled with a quartet of four soloists. Underhill led this quartet, joined by Principal Second Violin Dan Carlson, Associate Principal Viola Yun Jie Liu (a change from the listing in the program book), and Principal Bass Scott Pingel. The music itself lasted less than a quarter-hour with only three short movements.
Most likely, K. 239 had been composed “on spec” for one of the social affairs of Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo. The Prince-Archbishop wanted “background music;” but last night’s “foreground” presentation could not have been more engaging. Those high spirits then extended smoothly into a vigorously delightful account of the K. 425 symphony.
This was an evening when both “spirit” and “flesh” were as able as they were willing, leaving this listener hoping that it will not be such a long wait before Labadie makes his next return to San Francisco!
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